Limitless - Movie Review - How Technology Affects Us

Updated on April 14, 2014

Limitless

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How Technology Affects Us

The newest, and apparent best and fastest technology is constantly being developed. We end up craving it, constantly looking for ways to help us deliver our thoughts and ideas faster. The movie, Limitless, is a deep and analytical movie which deals with exactly that concept. The way the newer technology has an effect on our bodies, on us, and the way we communicate ideas.

Limitless is about a writer, Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper), who has writer's block. He can't write the words fast enough that he wants to write due to having trouble recalling information. The character finds out about a new special drug called NZT, which lets the user be able to use one hundred percent of their brain compared to the normal use of twenty percent. Once he starts taking NZT, Eddie begins to be able access all information quickly and instantly process it all, and turns into a needed person without much effort. All they would need to do is skim words and they would learn it, process it, and know it so they could communicate their ideas and thoughts faster. Every user becomes extremely lazy and sick when they are off the pill.

The pill, NZT, in this movie is a perfect example of new technology people could become reliant and addicted to. We want more technology. We want faster technology and we mostly want it to do it for us. We become lazy if we allow technology, even as simple as a little pill, control us just because we don't want to put the effort in. There is a reason why we only use the amount of our brain, only twenty percent, which we're supposed to and not completely all of it at once. If we try to access all of it at once, we become subject to information overload and we can't handle it. It ends up harming us than helping. We really need time to process information. That is how we truly learn and should be more active.

We want to communicate ideas and information faster. But is faster really better? Is it really better if we don't take the time to think and process it? We are approached with flashes of information all the time. We are meant to pick and chose which information to focus on, and study to process. That is how we really learn and communicate best, when we communicate our strengths. Technology is meant to aid us, not learn it for us because without the help, after we rely on it, we don't remember anything.

The script was written beautifully and the director, Neil Burger, did a wonderful job translating the scenario in the greatly crafted scenes. Cooper's superb acting showed perfectly and exactly what new technology could do to a person who lets the technology completely control them. The way the movie was pieced together really captures the audience's attention excellently.

This movie, Limitless, shows newer technology, especially a pill, isn't always better for us in the long run. We need to make sure we are in control of the technology and that it doesn't control us till we are sickly dependent on it. The grade I would give this film is an A.

Do you think we can become too addicted to technology to the point where we lose our control?